None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The study aims to investigate whether eye gaze direction (looking forward or downward) can affect emotion and cognition independently of head tilt. The investigators hypothesise that looking down will result in lower high arousal positive affect and that looking down will result in lower feelings of power, lower overall mood, reduced peripheral eye gaze, fewer words spoken, and more singular personal pronouns than gazing forward, independent of head tilt.
Interventions
Participants who complete the study will be asked to come to the lab for one hour.
Participants will be told a cover story about the study and the researcher will attach electrooculogram (EOG) electrodes to the participant’s face to measure eye gaze direction, Participants will be asked to complete baseline questionnaires including demographics, mood and power. They will receive instructions about the position they are to
maintain for the duration of the study (i.e. either gazing forward or ga
Participants who complete the study will be asked to come to the lab for one hour. Participants will be told a cover story about the study and the researcher will attach electrooculogram (EOG) electrodes to the participant’s face to measure eye gaze direction, Participants will be asked to complete baseline questionnaires including demographics, mood and power. They will receive instructions about the position they are to maintain for the duration of the study (i.e. either gazing forward or gazing downward. A calibration process will be carried out within the first minute of the looking period. Then will complete two tasks - one with the head down and one with the head up. They will be presented with the first task; watching a short silent, black and white film for one minute, and then describe and give their opinion on the film for five minutes. Their descriptions will later be transcribed by the researcher and analysed using a Linguistic Inquiry Word Count [LIWC] analysis programme. After the story, participants will complete VAS reports on positive, negative, overall mood and comfort, AVI, and the questionnaire on power. Participants will be allowed to return to their natural posture for five minutes while receiving instructions about the second part of the study. For the second part of the study, participants will resume gazing either forward or downward and adopt the head position they have not yet experienced. They will then do the second task and repeat the measures. Once both parts of the study have been completed, the researcher will disconnect and remove the electrodes from the participant’s face. They will be thanked for their participation and will be free to leave. The calibration will be performed while the head is in the first position. It will be repeated for the second task. The angles of the eyes is determined by placing the screen either at eye height when sitting normally or near the ground so the participant has to look down. Head angle is determined by asking the person to rest their head on a ball placed under the chin - a big ball for head up (12.5 cm diameter ) and a small ball (7cm diameter) for head down. The participant will be supervised by the researcher to ensure the instructions are adhered to.
Sponsors
University of Auckland
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
16 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Able to understand and speak English,
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded if they are under 16 years of age, if they are not fluent in English or if they have severely impaired vision.
Outcome results
None listed